But Bruce Nicole, vicar of St Michael's Church, said the body had been found "in the Royal Military Academy".

Photographs from Tuesday (June 26) showed a police cordon set up on the boundary between the church's land and the Ministry of Defence's land. Mr Nicole said there were two further security fences further into the woods.

A scene-of-crime officer at the cordon behind St Michael's Church (Image: Darren Pepe)

The police are yet to release further details about the deceased but enquiries are ongoing and the death is being treated as "unexplained".

Officers in forensics suits have been seen heading into the woods from the churchyard and Mr Nicole said he had been told they were likely to be there "for a little while".

It is not known whether the deceased, who was discovered at around 11.15am on Monday, had any connection with the armed forces.

The cordon behind St Michael's Church - the posts indicate the boundary between church land and MoD land (Image: Darren Pepe)

Surrey Police has appealed for information to help establish the circumstances surrounding the death.

If you have any information which could help the police, you should call them on 101 quoting incident reference number P18148783.